It’s been a busy year for OK Go.
The band released their third studio album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky on Jan. 12, announced the end of their relationship with EMI and Capitol Records and the startup of their new label, Paracadute Recordings, and have been touring almost non-stop since January.
“We started writing in a different way,” lead singer and guitarist Damian Kulash said of the band’s most recent album, explaining that they looked “for moments when emotions jumped out.”
“You start with an endpoint and figure out the tools to get there,” Kulash said, noting this is different from previous albums, which were written like prose.
Kulash can’t say which song is his favourite off the album. “It’s hard to pick between your children,” Kulash explained. He would say, however, that he’s listening to “Skyscrapers” quite a bit. Kulash said he finds it hard to explain why he likes the Prince-esque track, simply stating, “I love it.”
Kulash said the inspiration for the album’s title came from an 18th century book of a similar title, one that theorized that blue light was able to heal the sick.
Kulash described the idea of a world completely coloured in blue for two years. “I found it so beautiful. It felt like a lot of what we do with pop,” he said.
With the recent release of OK Go’s new music video, “White Knuckles,” the band is recreating the hard-to-duplicate choreographed routines seen in “A Million Ways,” and “Here It Goes Again.”
“We’re sort of trying to find the same thrill that we do in music,” Kulash said of their music videos. “Hopefully something really magical comes out of it.”
Still, Kulash said he was surprised with the success of the “A Million Ways” video. “It was very strange, a very weird experience,” he said.
The big change this year is Paracadute Recordings. “I think the recording industry. . . [is] one size fits all, it’s about how to make money,” Kulash said, asking, “Why shouldn’t everything be of value?” in regards to the band’s music videos.
“[Independent] labels are a lot of work, but honestly dealing with a major label is a lot of work,” Kulash said, adding that if there are any problems “we can always deal with it, rather than calling and begging them to make the right decision.”
Kulash said that people shouldn’t expect Paracadute Recordings to sign any other artists in the near future.
“At this time it’s just a label for our music. I have no desire to figure out a system that works for everyone,” he said. “I just want to make shit.”
OK Go plays at Capital Music Hall Oct. 15.